Skunk Works to Build Radar Airship for DARPA

Ken S. Tucker wrote:
Pat great refs BTW, thanks!
Don't expect engineers to use a Pressure Relief Valve,
that's lo-brow plumin' stuff required on your hot-water
heater tank. Reminds me of the Apollo 13 tank over-
pressure tank rupture...same deal...duh...where's Joe
the Plumber when we need him???
(Carousing with that chick from Alaska).
$5-$10 at the local hardware store.



I don't remember if the articles said if it was filled with helium or
hydrogen.
Hydrogen was cheap to replace, but helium was very expensive at the
time, so the idea may have been to make it swell up rather than venting
gas if it had helium in it. It doesn't seem to have a compensating
ballute inside of the hull like blimps do to deal with changing gas volume.
I'll bet there was one hell of a bang when it ruptured. Probably sounded
like hitting a garbage can with a baseball bat. :-)
I've always been a fan of airships, and can't believe I never ran into
this thing before... it doesn't get mentioned on any of my books on
airships, despite having been actually built, and apparently quite the
news story at the time.
In case anyone wants them, I downloaded the illustrations and
explanation of them from the patent on it, and will send them as jpgs
(there are five pages total).

Pat